INTIMACY IN EMPTINESS

AN EVOLUTION OF EMBODIED CONSCIOUSNESS

About the Editors

Paula Sager and Bonnie Morrissey are both long-time students and colleagues of Janet Adler. They are faculty members of the Circles of Four program. Paula and Bonnie each offer the Discipline of Authentic Movement in their home studios in New England, throughout the US and Canada, and online internationally.

From left to right: Paula, Janet and Bonnie

Bonnie Morrissey

Bonnie Morrissey is a teacher of the Discipline of Authentic Movement, a writer of poems, and a licensed clinical psychologist-masters in private practice. She is a long-time student of Janet Adler, having first met and studied with Janet in 1981. Now colleagues, through the years Janet has generously offered her presence as a witness to Bonnie’s development, for individual work, as a retreat teacher, and in a supervisory role. Janet’s inspired teaching and the unlimited potential of the discipline have oriented Bonnie’s professional and personal development.

Bonnie is a faculty member of Circles of Four, an international post-graduate level program designed to prepare teachers of the Discipline of Authentic Movement. In her role of teacher, Bonnie receives students for individual work in her Vermont studio and online. She also teaches a group retreat series in Vermont, and has offered retreats in the USA, Canada, and online internationally. Bonnie’s teaching practice is grounded in 40 years of experience offering psychodynamic depth therapy to individuals and couples. In both her teaching and psychotherapy practices, Bonnie aspires to cultivate inner qualities of presence through relational inquiry. Whether in stillness or moving, whether listening, speaking or writing, she longs to participate in the development of a more clear and compassionate Witness Consciousness in the world.

Bonnie received her graduate degree from the Dance/Movement Therapy Program at Antioch University. Her doctoral work (ABD) was in the field of Consciousness Studies at Saybrook Institute, where she worked closely with Stanley Krippner. Her research was a cross-cultural study of spirit-based healing in Brazil, through dance and mediumship. She has published this research, as well as other essays, poems, and a book.  ​

Visit Bonnie Morrissey’s Website:

Bonnie Morrissey | Psychotherapy, Discipline of Authentic Movement and Writing

Paula Sager

Paula Sager, a writer and a teacher of embodied and contemplative practices is based in Rhode Island where she teaches the Discipline of Authentic Movement. Her practice and study with Janet Adler began in 1994, a deepening journey over decades. Paula is a faculty member of Circles of Four, a program preparing teachers of the discipline. She is grateful for the opportunity to participate in the continuing lineage of this work.

Paula received her degree in dance from Bennington College. She is a trained teacher of the Alexander Technique and holds a graduate degree from the Barfield School at Sunbridge College. Her phenomenological research on the development of the inner witness brings together two fields of inquiry through her thesis mentors Arthur Zajonc (physicist, educator, and teacher of meditation and Contemplative Inquiry) and Janet Adler, founder of the Discipline of Authentic Movement and pioneer of embodied awareness as witness consciousness.

Her interest in the application of embodied awareness and contemplative practice led Paula to cofound The Mariposa Center, a non-profit and social-justice initiative focused on early childhood education (2007 – 2018).  The Mariposa archives are now in the special collections department of the James P. Adams Library at Rhode Island College.  She also served on the board of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society from 2011 – 2017.

As a dancer and choreographer during the 1980s, Paula wrote articles and dance reviews for the Valley Advocate and Contact Quarterly. In 1993, she cofounded and served until 2006 as an editor and writer for A Moving Journal, a publication devoted to Authentic Movement. Paula is the author of numerous published essays, some of which have been translated into Russian and German. She also coauthored Red Thread, Two Women, published by Pacific Editions and handcrafted in a limited edition by book artist, Charles Hobson.

Visit Paula Sager’s Website:

Three Stone Studio | Paula Sager

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